Loons 3, Captains 1: Captains could use a top Indians' prospect at this point

Fans who closely monitor the Indians' farm system know 2013 first-round draft choice Clint Frazier's professional career is off to a sensational start.

In two games with the rookie-league Arizona Indians, the 18-year-old outfielder is batting .500 with a home run, triple and six RBI.

What does that have to do with the Captains and their 3-1 loss Thursday afternoon to the Great Lakes Loons at Classic Park?

Nothing, really, beyond the profoundly obvious observation that a Lake County batting order that's produced one run in 18 innings of two straight losses could use a boost from a bat as potent as Frazier's seems to be.

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The Captains slipped to 5-3 with the loss. Great Lakes improved to 6-2 with the wire-to-wire win.

If you are thinking Frazier is far too young to make the jump from rookie ball past the short-season Class A Mahoning Valley Scrappers to the full-season Midwest League, consider this fact:

Two of the position players who started Thursday for Lake County, shortstop Dorssys Paulino and right fielder Anthony Santander, are younger than Frazier.

Captains manager Scooter Tucker, stressing he's never met Frazier or watched him play in person, was careful with his answer when asked if he'd be surprised if Frazier made it to Lake County sometime this season.

"That's way above my pay grade," Tucker replied, smiling.

"When they draft these guys, they have some idea where they should start and what the timetable will be.

"Would we like to see the kid here this season? Absolutely. We'd love to have him and see what all the fuss is about," Tucker added.

The buzz about Frazier, and especially about the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Georgia native's ability to drive the ball long distances, reached Tucker soon after the Indians drafted and signed the former high school standout.

"A friend of mine who is a cross-checker for another organization told me, 'You really got something there. This kid can play,' " Tucker said.

Working against the scenario of Frazier making it to Lake County this season is, according to Tucker, the demands placed on young men in their first exposure to professional baseball.

"The biggest challenge for some of these players is being ready every time, for 140 games and 130 pitches a night," Tucker said.

Then there are the rigors, physical and mental, of playing every day.

"In the case of a high schooler, you're talking about an 18-year-old kid who's played maybe 32 games in high school and maybe a few more in summer league," Tucker said. "That's not nine-hour bus rides and an 11 a.m. game after a night game.

"Plus, you're facing the best of the best every day. There is so much wear and tear," Tucker added.

All of those points being conceded, Tucker said it could be Frazier is one of the rare prospects whose skills force an organization to rethink it's timetable.

"I played against Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez in the minors, and it just looked like they didn't belong there," Tucker said.

Great Lakes manager Razor Shines has a player almost two years younger than Frazier on his roster. In today's game at Classic Park, Shines will send 16-year-old left-hander Julio Urias to the mound as his starting pitcher.

Urias, a native of Mexico, had just turned 16 when he signed with the Dodgers as a non-drafted free agent in August 2012.

In six previous starts for the Loons, Urias is 1-0 with a 3.74 ERA.

"You have to be careful and look at the makeup of a kid," Shines said. "When you send a young guy here, there is going to be some failure.

"Kids handle failure differently. Some of them put the failures to today behind them and start fresh the next day. Some kids can't do that. They fail and you see it in their eyes that they don't really want to be out there."

Shines thinks the world of Urias and believes his teenage prodigy has a chance to be in the big leagues by the time he's 21.

Is it realistic to expect Frazier may also be on the fast track, a la Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals?